Workplace Relations Minister
Bill Shorten
has denounced the tactics of the construction union in an bitter wildcat dispute that one of the largest builders, Grocon, describes as a key test of the industrial system.

An explosive stoush between the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and Grocon flared last week as projects worth billions of dollars were blockaded by unionists.

The union then defied court orders to lift the blockades from sites including the $1.2 billion Myer Emporium.

Inflammatory handbills have also emerged, including one that identified six Grocon employees as “scabs" who should be purged from the industry.

Mr Shorten told The Australian Financial Review on Sunday that such “propaganda" had no place in modern society.

“I have no time for tactics which intimidate individuals," he said.

Mr Shorten said the federal government’s new building industry watchdog, Fair Work Building and Construction, was looking into the case.

The Master Builders Association of Victoria has also complained about the leaflets to Fair Work Australia, arguing it amounted to adverse action.

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It is also understood Mr Shorten’s intervention at the weekend has resulted in the parties being forced to a private mediation at the tribunal overseen by president Iain Ross.

Mr Shorten said the government would not support any unlawful behaviour but the blockades were not covered by industrial legislation.

“I’m not going to say anything that downplays the seriousness of this matter," he said.

“The system for these sorts of matters has been the same throughout every government in Australia throughout the last 70 or 80 years, this is a matter of tort," he said. It was clear something had gone “seriously awry" in the relationship between the union and Grocon, he said.

But new blockades this week are a possibility and Grocon chief executive
Daniel Grollo
said the dispute was a litmus test for the building regulator.

Mr Grollo said his staff were “good, hard-working people" who had the right to go to work and “to rest in their homes without being fearful".

“This is a massive operation in illegal intimidation in defiance of Supreme Court orders," he said.

“If the CFMEU is given the space and the oxygen to continue to run this illegal blockade and the fear campaign that goes with it, then it will demonstrate the system is really not working. Their claims are ludicrous and they should be held accountable for stopping hundreds of people returning to their jobs on one of the biggest construction sites in Melbourne."

Mr Grollo said he hoped business and political leaders were watching the dispute closely.

“This is not another chapter in a familiar tale, an act in a play or a round in a title bout," he said.

“The blockades are more than illegal, they are unprovoked, based on lies, and involve a systematic campaign of long-term physical threats to individuals, their careers and in some cases their families."

Grocon has not sought ministerial intervention but will return to court on Monday morning to ask for contempt orders against a series of CFMEU officials for breaching last week’s injunction; the officials include Victorian assistant secretaries John Setka and Elias Spernovasilis, senior vice-president Noel Washington and vice-president Shaun Reardon.

Fair Work Building and Construction took over from the Howard government-era Australian Building and Construction Commission last month and convened the first meeting of its high-level advisory board on Friday.

FWBC chief executive Leigh Johns said the Grocon blockade was “unlawful and ought to stop" but that the regulator was unlikely to intervene.

Mr Johns said Grocon had sought action in the Supreme Court because pickets were not covered by industrial law and it was not the regulator’s place “to sabotage the legal strategy being employed by Grocon".

Mr Johns said his office had been dealing with both sides about their grievances and flagged that Grocon’s complaints could lead to civil proceedings against the union.

These powers had not altered under the new regime, he said.

Mr Grollo said the dispute centred on a union demand that it choose health and safety representatives on Grocon sites. He labelled the union’s associated claims about safety a “bizarre smokescreen" saying the company had won awards in the recent past for its approach to OH&S.

The union took out paid advertising in the Herald Sun over the weekend saying it would not tolerate “intimidation and bullying" from Grocon.

The Master Builders Association also referred the handbill to WorkSafe but the body is unlikely to take action due to the structure of bullying laws.

Victoria introduced so-called Brodie’s Law last year to cope with extreme cases of bullying. But as it is an extension of stalking laws, breaches are investigated by police. “Undesirable things happen at or around work but not all of them mean that an employer has failed in their duty and broken health and safety laws," said a WorkSafe spokesman.

Victoria Police declined to comment on whether it was investigating .

A state government spokesman called for Mr Shorten to do more, saying the incident showed “contempt for the rule of law". The union did not respond when contacted on Sunday.